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Alice is a young girl who falls in with a bunch of witches in the anime series TWEENY WITCHES. This third volume of episodes from the show finds the Witch Realm disrupted by Warlocks, who threaten to bring a permanent end to the world. The Warlocks are searching for the True Book of Spells, and Alice has to undertake a frantic search to learn about the Magic of Light, which will effectively combat this new and powerful threat. This volume brings the Animax series to an exciting conclusion.

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Manchester is being torn apart by criminals. The police are useless. The killers, thieves, and junkies are unstoppable. Who can the people count on? The Boxer, that’s who. This brutal vigilante uses his fists to make outlaws pay for their crimes. But as the battle intensifies, and the streets get bloodier, it becomes less and less clear who the criminal is. Thrilling action and fantasy elements mix in this comic-book inspired film.

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Inspired by a true story, 21 mixes Las Vegas casino wheeling and dealing with college-kid angst: think OCEAN’S ELEVEN via THE PAPER CHASE. Kevin Spacey is crafty MIT professor Micky Rosa, who trains brainiac students to count cards and then flies them out to Vegas to raid the blackjack tables between classes. At first they rake in a bundle, but then catch the unwanted attention of tough-guy security chief, Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne) who wants to prove himself before he’s replaced by face recognition software. Super math genius Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) originally joins the ring in order to come up with the $300,000 he needs for tuition money, but he’s also gaga over the ring’s resident babe, Jill (Kate Bosworth). When he finds out Professor Rosa hasn’t been dealing entirely from a straight deck, Ben’s high-end shopping spree dreams turn sour (though card counting is not illegal) and the battle of wits is on, no second chances given. Spacey is in his preternaturally calm, morally compromised element, stealing scenes left and right; Fishburne brings the hangdog depth; and everything bubbles over the 24-karat rocks, courtesy of director Robert Luketic (LEGALLY BLONDE). 21 is based on the bestseller BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE by Ben Mezrich. (2 hrs. 2 min.)

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Slapstick was a term invented to describe the physical comedy that was often practiced in vaudeville and early silent features. The work of Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Laurel and Hardy provides some of the best, and funniest, examples of early slapstick humor in the movies, and these stars feature heavily in this collection of early features. The second volume in the AMERICAN SLAPSTICK series includes Chaplin films such as CAUGHT IN A PARK (1915) and THE HOBO (1917), and an early appearance by Lloyd in LUKE JOINS THE NAVY (1916).

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Charlie “Bird” Parker had been a hero of Clint Eastwood’s since childhood, and Eastwood, having been disappointed in such jazz biopics as YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN, really wanted to make a true jazz fan’s movie about the music. He cast Forest Whitaker as Parker, the legendary alto sax player, and Diane Venora as Chan, Parker’s wife. The film shows how Parker, a genius who changed the face of modern music, was hampered and eventually destroyed by his appetite for women, food, and drugs. The two leads do a great job giving a recognizable human face to the characters’ complex relationship. With wit and warmth, BIRD tells the story in direct and honest terms, avoiding all sentimentality. Eastwood’s love of Parker’s music comes across in the tremendous care that he and composer Lennie Niehaus took with reconstructing it, using Parker’s original solos. Eastwood and cinematographer Jack N. Green also patterned the dark, moody look of the film after old photos of musicians who used to appear in jazz magazines. Music lovers will be thrilled with the result, and movie lovers will find plenty to engage them in this moving tale of a great man battling his demons. (2 hrs. 41 min.)

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